Baking Bacon

 I'm sure everybody knows how to make a BLT. No recipe needed. I DO have a method for easier bacon though. No mess, no splatter burns, no curled up slices, and no need to stand over the stove and babysit the bacon.

 I bake my bacon. Simply place a pound of bacon on a broiler pan (or on a rack in a cookie sheet) with a little space between the slices and put it in the top half of a cold oven. Turn the oven to 400° F and use the time to slice the tomatoes and leaf the lettuce. If you're using thin bacon it will probably be nearly done when the oven in finished preheating, just give it another minute or so. We chose to get half medium and half thick sliced when we got our pigs processed and prefer thick sliced for our BLTs so it takes about 10 minutes more. 

 The bacon turns out flat, crispy but not brittle, and most of the fat has dripped down into the bottom of the broiler pan. (Don't forget to save that bacon grease! It's great for sautéing green beans.) If you like your bacon floppy cook it a little less, for crispier cook it a little longer. It may smoke a bit, from minor grease spatter hitting the heating element, so open a window or turn on your exhaust fan. 

 That's it! Simple as can be. Now go eat some bacon...